Chapter Four:
Vegeta had only been waiting for a few minutes when Goku reappeared in front of him. The normally carefree saiyajin wore a look of concern on his face.
"What is it, Kakarott?" Vegeta asked, knowing that if something worried Goku, it was probably worth knowing about.
Goku looked at him, the worry plain on his face like a stamp. "Maybe you should get Bulma and take her to Korin's as well, Vegeta."
The saiyajin prince raised one eyebrow in confusion. "What on earth for? If she's safe anywhere, it's probably at home with all those guns. The woman can take care of herself fairly well."
Goku nodded. "I know. But I think this Golden Moon thing is going to be even worse than we thought. As soon as I got to Korin's, he said he had a message for me."
"And?"
"The message was from King Kai. He wants you and me to come to his planet right away."
Vegeta raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side just a bit, in a gesture that Bulma would define as 'cute', mainly to annoy him. "I thought that the Kai's planet was destroyed by Cell."
Goku shook his head and shrugged. "It was. Maybe he got a new one, or something. I dunno. As long as I can sense his ki it won't matter."
Vegeta stared at Goku for a second, then sighed. "Well, let's go then. Bulma will be perfectly safe at home. We need to get this over with."
Goku seemed to hesitate, that same worried look on his face, but after only a second, he nodded. Vegeta paced over next to him, his arms crossed and his face setting in a frown at having to touch a 'third class baka', even though he no longer really thought of Goku in that term and hadn't for quite a while. Goku put a hand on his shoulder, and they vanished.
The boy with the red hair reappeared about five miles away, still relatively close by. Close enough to sense the kis of all the Z warriors, and what they were doing. He was practically kicking himself in a rage.
"Oh, that went just perfectly!" he shouted at himself. "What a wonderful way to earn people's trust, get into fights with them! I handled that just perfectly!!"
He sat down hard on a rock, resting his head in his hand and sighed. When he thought about it, he probably should have at least stopped when he got here to find some of the clothes that the people on this planet wore. At the moment, he was clad in a black spandex body suit with what was similar to old saiyajin armor (the kind with the hip pads) over it, only no shoulder pads. Over all that, he wore a sleeveless green trench coat.
It wasn't the kind of thing that people on this planet clad themselves in, apparently. But it would have taken a day's careful observation to find out what was normal around here, and he didn't have that kind of time.
That didn't make up for his carelessness in other ways, however. He had scared Goku's wife half to death, apparently. She had broken a broom over his head, and usually people only got that angry if you had scared them. Then there was Vegeta.
"Another thing I can kick myself over." he muttered to himself sarcastically. "I get here and what's the first thing I do? Find the second strongest being on the planet, probably the fourth or fifth in the whole universe, and get into a fight with him."
Not that it had all been his fault. Vegeta had come barreling at him like a train, so who could blame him for hitting back?
But Vegeta was too powerful for him to fight effectively for long. The only way he could overpower the saiyajin prince would be a triple Kaio-ken, and that would cause him very serious damage after a few minutes.
"Well, I hope I don't have to fight him. That's not what I came here for." the boy muttered to himself. "And I guess I've kicked myself over this for long enough."
He stood up off the rock, trying to decide what to do. Goku had teleported off the planet, for what purpose the boy couldn't imagine. It wasn't really important why, so he didn't trouble about it. Right now, he wondered if it would be better to try and talk to someone more placid than Vegeta. Maybe Goku's son, or the short one.
It was a dilemma, true. He thought from the feel of the two warriors' kis that they would be more peaceful, but that was never a sure thing. And Goku's son was half saiyajin. That meant he could either be quite docile or a raving maniac. Demi-saiyajin tended to be one or the other.
"Well, I guess I could just wait for Goku to get back." he said to himself. "But that could be a while."
He tapped his chin for a second in thought. It didn't look like any of the others would be leaving the planet any time soon. It would probably be safe to wait for a little while, and if Goku didn't come back, then try his luck with one of the others.
"I'll give it two hours." he sighed, and sat back down on his rock. "Then I guess I'll have to try the midget. He seems like my best bet."
He crossed his legs and sat there staring off into the desert.
Teleporting always made Vegeta feel a little woozy, so he didn't like to have to go with Goku anywhere by that method very often. It would unsettle anyone's stomach to be transformed into a light particle and zapped over millions of miles in the space of a second. It didn't seem to bother Goku much, but then again, Goku had a stomach of steel.
But when he opened his eyes to look around them at where they were, all thoughts of nausea left him.
They were on Kaio-shin-Kai.
He hadn't been to the Supreme Kai's planet since the fight with Majin Buu, and he hadn't expected to see the place ever again. Even more surprising, there were more people there than he expected.
First, there were all four Kai's, not just their King Kai. And Kaio-bit, the being that had resulted when Kaio-shin and Kibito fused with the earrings. Goku still referred to the guy as Shin.
Dende was there, now a tall adult namek. His usual look of happiness was gone, however. Now, he looked scared, and worried. The old Kaio-shin was sitting against a tree, reading a magazine. He was the only one of the gods that didn't appear worried.
"So, you finally got my message?" King Kai walked over and looked up at Goku and Vegeta (who he had never even met in person), his usual playful grin not even showing a ghost of itself.
Goku nodded. "But we were actually on our way here, anyway. I had something to ask you."
King Kai waved a hand in the air. "It can wait. There are things we all have to discuss."
Goku nodded, and the two saiyajin sat down on the grass. Everyone else was already seated except for King Kai, who soon followed suit and sat down on a cushion. He looked at Kaio-bit and nodded. The other deity nodded back and began to speak in a soft, pleasant voice. Goku paused to wonder why he didn't speak in a double voice like all other fusion-beings, but didn't dwell on it.
"As you know, the Golden Moon will soon make it's reappearance. One earth."
They nodded.
"But I don't believe that you really know what this means." he continued. "There are worse things in hell than people like Frieza. There are lower hells that are really reserved for immortal beings. Sort of like a dead zone with land, and punishment centers."
"We aren't foolish enough to hope that these levels of hell won't be opened as well as the rest. They will be. And there are still things there with enough will and power left to take advantage of the chance."
"We don't know when exactly the Golden Moon will appear. Almost every manuscript on it has a different date. The ones in Dende's library say that there cold be almost a month until it happens. The ones in Enma-sama's library say that there could be only a day. A few others give dates in between, and some don't even say. But the point is, we don't have any exact date. So we'll have to be on the lookout at all times."
Goku was looking at Kaio-bit in a way that indicated he was soaking everything up like a sponge. His eyes were narrowed, his mouth set into a small line. He nodded slightly every once in a while, as if he was making guesses and having them confirmed. Vegeta wore his normal scowl, but it was clear that he was listening as well.
"The whole thing will happen in three stages, all about six hours apart. First, the sky will go completely black, probably from clouds, and probably in the middle of the day. Six hours later, the doorway into hell will open in the sky. We don't know where exactly, but we do have a few very good guesses that should give you some clues as to where to watch."
"And six hours after that, the Golden Moon itself will appear."
Suddenly he smiled. "Now comes the good news. All you have to do is destroy it, and the doorway into hell will be destroyed as well. Then you just have to kill whatever already got out and you'll be home free. Destroying the thing shouldn't be any harder than destroying a planet. Choutzu could do it."
"Oh, yes." Vegeta said with a note of sarcasm in his voice. "That's so very simple. But the problem is, we don't know how powerful any of the things that come out will be. So killing them may be a bit difficult."
King Kai cut in. "We know that, Vegeta. But I really don't think you'll have a whole lot of trouble if you attack as soon as they get out. And you only have to work at it for six hours before you can destroy the Golden Moon."
Vegeta rolled his eyes and said nothing.
Goku looked at King Kai. "Do you think I could ask you my question now?"
The blue god nodded his head.
Goku took a deep breath. "Someone quite strong seems to have appeared out of nowhere. He attacked Vegeta. And he was looking for me."
King Kai raised his eyebrows. "And?"
"He knew the Kaio-ken. We were wondering if he could have been a student you took on recently."
King Kai surprised them by smiling for the first time since they had gotten there. "Not recently, Goku. But I do know who you're talking about. Red hair, about five foot eight, small but pretty muscular? Probably wearing armor like Frieza's empire used to use?"
Vegeta had been staring off into the distance, but now he turned toward the Kai and leaned forward.
"You know who it is, then?"
King Kai nodded and laughed. "I should have sent you a message really, but there was no time. I told him to go to earth."
Goku raised an eyebrow and kept looking at King Kai, indicating that he wanted more information.
"He was a very good student, probably my best next to you, Goku. And just yesterday he came to me saying that he needed help. So naturally I told him 'I know a great guy who loves to help people. His name's Son Goku.'"
Vegeta growled in the back of his throat, an old sign that anyone who knew him could tell you meant he was annoyed.
"We have established the fact that you told him to look for Kakarott. But who is he, and why is he bothering us?!"
The Kai just laughed a little more, not bothered by Vegeta's rudeness. "I told you, he was my student. He didn't say why he needed help, but it might be good to ask instead of fighting with him. It probably has something to do with the Golden Moon."
Goku held up his hand. "Wait just a second. Vegeta said the kid looked like he was fifteen at the most. That means that you must have taught him after me, right?"
King Kai shook his head. "The only people I took on a students after you were Tien, Yamucha, and Choutzu. I taught him a long time ago. But you were right about his age, Vegeta. He was fifteen years old when he stopped."
Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "Stopped what?"
"Stopped growing. I guess that was close to three thousand years ago, now."
The two saiyajin's eyes grew wide.
"What are you saying? What the hell has a life span of that long?!" Vegeta almost screamed.
King Kai now didn't just chuckle, he burst out laughing. "Haven't you guessed it yet?"
The boy licked his lips absently, his tongue running over two long, razor canines.
"I'm hungry." he sighed simply. "And there's nothing here. Not even a damned animal." he made a slight face.
A sigh escaped his pursed lips as he put his head back into his hands. "I suppose it wouldn't be good to go and start killing people, even evil ones, until I get to know these guys well enough that they won't attack me."
He sighed again. It was going to be a long wait.
Osiris' face was marked by an expression he hadn't worn in ages.
He was smiling.
"It will be fun to fight again. Maybe one of these riffraff will be powerful enough to give me a decent challenge."
He was standing in front of a large glass tube, which was opened at the front. Now he stepped into it, and the glass automatically closed over him.
"Computer, teleport me to earth." he said, the smile never leaving his face. Instantly his body started to de-materialize into light. In an instant, he was gone.
The peaceful sound of a waterfall was the only noise that broke the quiet peace of the forest. It rumbled on loudly, but it was a quiet kind of noise, a peaceful noise. That was why Piccolo liked it.
He floated in his usual position, legs and arms crossed, eyes closed. He was in a deep meditation, a state that only the most dedicated and skilled person could reach. In it, he was more aware of the earth and everything on it than any of the other Z warriors. It was like a huge web, with him in the center and information from the whole world traveling down the strands.
He had noticed the vampire boy's ki long ago, and determined that he was not hostile in any way. He had almost intervened when Vegeta and the boy had fought, but thought better of it. Things would work themselves out. They usually did.
It had all settled own now, as he knew it would. Goku and Vegeta had just teleported off planet for some reason, but that didn't mean something bad was up. They probably just had to talk to King Kai, or something.
He had just begun to drift again when he sensed it.
A ki, very like the strange boy's, but different in two major ways.
It was much stronger, and it was very hostile.
Gohan, Krillin, and Juuhachi-gou had just landed on the front lawn of Kame island when the hostile vampire's ki burst to life, as if it had just appeared out of nowhere. As a matter of fact, it had just been teleported there. But there was no way for them to know that.
They all stopped dead in their tracks toward the door of the house, their eyes growing wide and frightened in synch.
"What..." Gohan tried, and had to clear his throat. "What the hell is that?"
Neither of the other two could answer. The sheer enormity of the ki was staggering. It dwarfed the power they had all felt from Vegeta earlier, easily. And the ki was coming in slow waves, indicating that the owner was at rest, rather than powered up.
Gohan swallowed again, trying to clear the dryness in his throat.
"I...." he managed. "I don't think that feels friendly."
The other two shook their heads.
Suddenly, the fright seemed to leave Gohan's face. In all actuality, it was more tucked away. He would have time to be afraid later. The look on his face now was one of solid determination.
"Come on, you guys. We've got to find out who that is." he said, and turned abruptly one hundred eighty degrees.
The other two at first didn't move much at all, but then Krillin's face changed much like Gohan's had, and Juuhachi-gou's followed. They were all veteran warriors, and they knew that fear weakened you. Made you vulnerable. In a situation such as this, even blind rage could be safer. And the flat determination that they all consciously made replace the fear in their minds was better by a mile.
Without another word exchanged, they took off together back the way they came toward the source of the ki they had felt.
At Korin's tower, the faces of three teenagers all paled at once. And Korin's mouth fell open, his staff falling to the floor as he and the three boys rushed to the railing, as if they could sense ki better that way.
Trunks was the first to speak, and he perfectly imitated Gohan.
"What..." he gulped. "What is that?"
Korin's mouth closed with a snap. He seemed to regain his calm instantly. He left the boys gawking at the railing, and went back to the center of the platform, picking up his staff.
"I was sure he was dead." Korin muttered to himself, now seeming more confused than afraid. "I was sure of it. So how can this be..."
Goten's head snapped around as he looked at Korin. He apparently was the only one paying attention to the cat/god's talk.
"What did you say, master Korin?"
Korin looked at Goten for a moment before he answered. "I said I was sure he was dead."
"Who?"
Korin waved his staff in the air angrily. "Who do you think? That enormous power you're all sensing!"
Goten was about to say something else, but Uubu's voice interjected.
"Gohan and Krillin are headed toward it!" he said. "If they're headed that way, Juuhachi-gou is with them as well. We have to go help them!"
Trunks nodded, and Goten seemed on the verge of going to them and all taking off when Korin's voice stopped them.
"Stop. Gohan and the other two are already as good as dead. And if you go to them, you will be too."
All three looked at him with a mixture of fear and confusion on their faces, frozen in mid stride.
"The thing they're going after can't be beaten by any of you. He would kill you all in seconds. If anyone has a chance, it's Goku. But none of you can go and sacrifice yourselves to that monster! I forbid it!"
Trunks was about to say something about their duty to help, and then leave, when there was a sound that was like a cross between a tree branch cracking and metal clashing. The unmistakable sound of an aura disengaging.
"I forbid it as well."
Trunks turned to his left and saw just who he had sensed and known would be there. Piccolo.
"I won't let you go and get yourself killed. You're still a child."
Trunks' face twisted in anger, both at being told what to do, and at being called a child.
"You can't stop me." he said in a low voice.
Piccolo's eyes narrowed. "You're wrong about that, Trunks."
"None of you are going anywhere." a stern female voice came from the door of the small closed room at the back of the platform. Unmistakably ChiChi.
"None of you. And I know your mother would say the same thing, Trunks." she said sternly, crossing her arms in front of her. She was standing in the doorway, glaring at them all, as if daring them to contradict her. They didn't.
"Good. I'm glad to see you've got some sense." she said with a smile.
Piccolo shook his head. "I said they weren't going. I have an obligation to fill."
All of their heads turned back from ChiChi to Piccolo.
"Gohan's out there, going toward almost certain death, if what I feel is right. It's my duty to protect him."
Before anyone could say a word to stop him, the cape and turban had fallen, leaving a couple good sized craters in the stone floor, and Piccolo had taken flight in a blaze of ki.
Trunk's eyes narrowed into slits, and his hair flashed gold.
"If he goes, I go." he said, and prepared to take off.
But a smart chop to the back of the neck suddenly cut off the nerve pathways that connected the brain to the rest of the body, right at the back of his neck. Standard way to render someone unconscious.
Trunks fell forward and his hair immediately fell back down, the gold fading back to lavender. Standing behind him with a raised arm and a guilty look on his face was Uubu.
"Piccolo's right." he said, tuning apologetically to Goten, even though the demi-saiyajin had said nothing. "If we go to fight.... whatever that is, we'll get killed. I know, I feel it too. Whatever those four are about to fight... it isn't human."
None of the listeners misunderstood. Uubu didn't mean anything about the species homo sapien. He meant normal, mortal, of this world. Whatever was about to fight Gohan, Krillin, Juuhachi-gou, and Piccolo, it was dangerous.
"Piccolo is coming towards us." Gohan said shortly.
Neither Krillin or Juuhachi-gou responded, but Gohan knew that they had heard him. But speech had a funny effect on the bold front they used to cover their fear. It made it seem thinner, even made it disappear. That was why he had limited his comment to those five words. The only emotion that could replace that front of bravery and not let the fear back in was the thought of going honorably toward death. But if you still had some hope of living, that didn't work too well.
Before more than a few seconds had passed, Piccolo was visible to their left. Before even five more seconds had passed, he was pulling even with Gohan.
They didn't exchange any words. There was no need. The two were so in tune with each other that words were fairly pointless in this sort of situation.
The powerful ki was getting very close. In fact, they were almost on top of it.
But they still were quite surprised when Osiris simply appeared in their path.
The ancient being, the vampire Osiris, that the four warriors were racing toward was actually just sitting on a log in the middle of a sort of oasis. He was looking around him and calmly planning on how to best destroy anyone who opposed him on this planet.
He knew that they were headed for him. A few of the most powerful here. The high number of powerful warriors on this planet puzzled him quite a bit. On most of the planets he plundered, it was a rare occasion to find even one warrior half as strong as the weakest of these. But here...
Not that it mattered. He could kill them all easily enough.
He looked up from the tree he had been staring vacantly at while thinking, an irritated look on his face. They were coming on pretty fast. In fact, he would be able to see them in about ten seconds.
He stood and dusted the dirt off of his plain black clothes, letting the metal tube bang against his leg. That weapon, the piercing white ki sword, was a last resort. To him, ki was more of a backup, something to be used when all else failed. He preferred to use his supernatural abilities instead.
Ah, now he could see them. Coming on fast. He closed his eyes and grinned slowly, summoning his power, and without using ki, simply calling upon his vampiric gifts and placing himself directly in front of them in a rush of wind.
He opened his eyes. The looks on their faces were priceless. He loved it.
"Hello." he said in his purring, french-sounding accent. "I am the vampire Osiris. I would like to let you all know now, before we experience any misunderstandings, that I am going to kill you all."